The Way Home Bosses Warn Fans About the Final Episodes: 'It's a Hard Watch... But Very Satisfying'

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 6 of The Way Home. Read at your own risk!

The Way Home has put together some emotional reunions over the course of three and a half seasons. There have been joyful meetups and tearful ones, but none quite as harrowing as adult Elliot (Evan Williams) finally finding his mother, Tessa (Megan Follows), in Episode 6 of this season. He and Kat (Chyler Leigh) went searching through all of Port Haven in 1926 before getting a tip that Tessa would be at the beach when Al Capone's men came for the latest booze run from the Auggie boys. They snuck to the water to see thugs loading up and assumed that Tessa was in danger. They rushed in to save her, only to find out she was the one calling the shots for Capone right before Elliot was knocked unconscious by one of her goons.

That's going to leave huge marks, physically and emotionally, and a lot more questions when Elliot wakes up. He's not the only one worried about the past and the future. Del (Andie McDowell) is trying to figure out the next phase of her life as she questions whether a quiet life with Sam (Rob Stewart) is truly what she wants. KC (Vaughan Murrae) is also fighting with the pond as they make their first trip to the past without a clear directive about what they are doing there. A chance meeting with Jacob (Spencer MacPherson) is sure to ignite more fan theories about who exactly KC is to the Landry family. 

As we head into the final episodes of the series, TV Guide caught up with executive producers and mother-daughter duo Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke, to talk about Elliot's big reunion, KC's role in the family, and what fans can expect as they try to answer all the lingering questions. 

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Elliot finally finds Tessa at the end of this episode and gets to introduce himself to his mom, but it's in a very dramatic, not-thought-out way. How does this compare to how he imagined talking to her for the first time?
Alexandra Clarke: I don't think anyone could be prepared for that kind of meeting or reunion. We wanted to turn that idea of a parent and a child reuniting on its head a bit. I think we accomplished that.

Heather Conkie: He expected to be the hero. He expected to save his mom from the Capone guys. It was a complete shock to him and Kat to realize that their thinking had been completely opposite to what the situation actually was.

Elliot has run the emotional gamut when it comes to this pond. He's resented it. He's been envious of the people going in it. He's accepted it, and this season he was avoiding it for a long time. What does finally finding Tessa do for his relationship with this body of water?
Clarke: In Episode 1, he wanted to keep as much distance from the pond as possible. I think the overall arc for him this season is that he gets a bit of a taste of what Kat has been going through. Things have come full circle in that sense. In Season 1, Kat couldn't leave it well enough alone. She knew the rules, that what happened will always happen, but still couldn't just let it go. Wouldn't any person be like that? Human nature is "I can fix this. At least let me try to fix this. Let me get the answers." We are going to see him continue down that road. We've seen it already. That will carry on, and he does kind of assume the obsessive role that Kat had in Season 1 and Season 2. That was a funny thing to approach in the writers' room, seeing him go through that.

I think he kind of understood a lot of Kat's journey, and why she did what she did, once he got his five more minutes with Colton, but he'll understand it even more as a result of this season and his own personal quest. I think Mom is right — the idea of him being a hero is very tempting.

Conkie: He's just now also beginning to see how unpredictable things can be. All the experiences Kat has had, the wonderful and the terrible, he's realizing that it's not just jumping in and being the hero. It's jumping into the deep end, literally.

What can you tease about what's going to happen when he and Tessa actually get to have a conversation?
Clarke: I think the first question is, is there even going to be an interaction? He got knocked out there. Who knows what's next? I don't know what I can say about that. What do you think, Mom?

Conkie: I'm the same as you. This is the last thing he expected. Who knows how he comes through? He's just realizing for the first time that he can't follow his own rules. He told everybody from the start, but he realizes that you can't expect anything to go the way you think.

Clarke: As knocked out as he is physically at the end of Episode 6, he'll get there emotionally as well.

Speaking of the rules and ignoring them, Kat has been gung-ho about going back to the '20s. Is that because she can't let a question be unanswered or is it because these answers are going to be about Elliot?
Clarke: I think it is both of those things. She is a dog with a bone when it comes to mysteries and wanting to solve them. She is also 100 percent doing this for Elliot to try to get him the answers he wants. It's about family. The minute she sees young Fern and pieces together who she was, there's something intoxicating about this experience and that friendship that's brewing there. Fern is family. Meeting someone from your family's past and seeing how alike you are, how things you do pass through from generation to generation, that kind of friendship is the equivalent of Alice and teen Kat in Season 1, and it is really lovely to see.

The other issue is that she's seen herself in that screen test. So, regardless of whether or not she wants to go back, she knows she does. It's very different from a lot of other trips to the pond for her. It's inevitable now. She can't fight it. She might as well dive in. There's no denying that she goes back. She still doesn't know what that screen test is and what she's saying in it, or why they're afraid. She knows it happens, and what happened will always happen.

The previous trips to the pond have put obstacles in her relationship with Elliot and taken them further apart. What can you say about this adventure since Elliot is such a big part of it?
Clarke: I think it will challenge them, but I think it will also bond them in a way that we haven't experienced yet. It's going to have its pros and cons for their relationship development.

Now, we need to talk about Del. She's been going through it in the past couple of episodes. She's trying to make some choices about what she wants her future to look like. What can you say about that since neither Sam nor Julian seems to be the answer?
Clarke: She doesn't know. That's a very honest thing to feel. The thing with Sam is she is starting to realize that maybe it was too easy. Maybe it was too relaxed. Is this out of convenience because neither of them want to be alone? There's chemistry there that is undeniable and she's trying to figure that out. Julian was a catalyst for questioning Sam. She realizes quickly that Julian isn't what she wants. There's a line in Episode 5 when she's having her hallucinations about Colton. Both Sam and Julian want her to go to them and be a part of their life. Sam wants her to move to his farm and leave Kat and Jacob. Julian wanted her to leave and go be kind of a groupie in Stratford as he stars in these plays. She says to Colton, "We came to each other. It was a meeting. It wasn't me going totem and becoming a part of their life. We merged our lives together." That's secretly what she's looking for.

Conkie: And Colton was the love of her life. I don't think that many people have a love like that. She's constantly trying to look for that, but she can't because Colton is still the love other life. That's why she can't let go of him and make any sort of promise to anyone else. She has to face it. There's still some unresolved issues with her and Colton. He passed when they were at complete odds. At his funeral, she was convinced that he was having an affair. There was a woman there and a woman called the house. She found out about his finances and how he spent all this money for mysterious reasons. It wasn't until Kat came home 20 years later and solved all of the why's that Del realized all of that was a horrible misunderstanding. Part of her can't let go of Colton because there was so much that was left unsaid.

Can we talk about Stormy? My group chat has been calling him ghost horse since he showed up...
Conkie: We actually had a character that was a ghost horse on Heartland, and I'm wondering if that is why it keeps coming up.

Clarke: Stormy is very special. Stormy and Del have an incredible relationship. You'll see them working to rebuild trust after what happened in Episodes 4 and 5. Del pushed him too hard and broke that trust by forcing Stormy to go where he didn't want to go. There's magic there. There is magic in the bond that they have. The horse showed up when Del really needed him in Season 2. It made her remember her childhood. That was the whole season of the summer of magic. Stormy was a representation that, and he continues to be. Horses are so intuitive. I learned a lot from working on Heartland, and obviously Mom was on it for a long time, so the horse aspect is really something we wanted to pay homage to, but I promise the horse is not Jacob. That was a big theory. The horse is not Colton either.

How much should we read into the fact that Stormy clearly hates the pond?
Clarke: As we said, horses are very intuitive. There's a lot of interesting energy in that area of Landry farm that I am sure the horse is picking up on for one reason or another.

There's a big moment with Jacob and KC at the end of the episode. I've learned not to assume anything until it is actually said out loud, but what are you hoping fans take away from that scene?
Clarke: Their interaction should absolutely tell you that KC knows more than they let on. They're from the future. They know how the story ends, or how it continues. I think they are always there for a reason. The pond takes you where you need to go. If you look at the episodes with KC, there is always a reason. Whether that reason is what fans might start to think is another story. We certainly know that KC is a part of the family and knows certain outcomes.

What lingering burning questions are you most excited to answer for fans in the final episodes?
Clarke: I pop into those fan pages. I know people are nervous right now because they think we're asking more questions instead of answering the old ones. I will say, where is the fun in that? You can't have every episode answering something. You have to ask new questions and have faith that those questions will lead to answers for older ones. I think by the end, everyone will be very satisfied. We certainly are. The biggest question is, who is KC to the family? How does Sam know about the pond? Who is he in relation to everyone else? We will address all of that stuff.

How do you advise fans to prepare for the final episode?
Clarke: Kleenex, and maybe watch parties. It's been an emotional year for us as well, saying goodbye. I promised I wouldn't tear up, but I think the emotion will be conveyed within the episodes. The performances are beautiful. There are some really gorgeous moments that I can't wait for people to see. We really did lay it all on the line and poured our hearts into it.

Conkie: Our hearts were in the scripts. The actors came to a new level. It's going to be a hard watch as it gets closer to the end, but it's very satisfying. People doing ADR for the final episode right now are having a hard time. It brings out the best as opposed to the worst.

Clarke: Everyone really rallied together in such a beautiful way. Even our new cast, they're just such fabulous additions to our world. They were in it as much as Chyler, Evan, and Sadie. Everyone just held hands and jumped together. It was a beautiful, beautiful season.

The Way Home continues Sundays at 9/8c on Hallmark Channel. The series finale will air Sunday, June 21. Episodes are available the next day on Hallmark+.